ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday ordered the restoration of local bodies in Punjab, saying public could not be deprived of their representatives.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed issued the ruling while hearing a petition filed by PML-N leader Danyal Aziz and citizen Asad Ali Khan against abolishment of the metropolitan corporations and union councils in May 2019 through the Punjab Local Government Act.
The provincial government had appointed administrators under the new local government system.
The top judge remarked that under the Article 140, government can make laws but institutions cannot be abolished, adding that the government has a status whether it is federal, provincial or local.
Declaring section 3 of the Punjab Local Government Act unconstitutional, the apex court said that it violates Article 140A of the Constitution.
During the hearing, the additional attorney general of Punjab informed that court that the provincial government is ready to hold local bodies elections in the province as the matter is under discussion in the Council of Common Interest.
To which, Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that previously it was announced that election will be held in six months but the deadline was extended for 21 months again. He remarked that now the elections are being made linked to the decision of the CCI.
He said that the federal, provincial and local governments could be suspended for a limited time period but “you have deprived public of their representatives”.
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